Solar panel installations must grow by 40% to meet 2030 goals – Energy Ministry
Ministry says 53% of needs can be met by putting panels on existing infrastructure, but treasury yet to approve billions to expand infrastructure
Sue Surkes is The Times of Israel's environment reporter

The Energy Ministry has calculated that it must increase solar energy installation by 40 percent in order to meet the government’s goal of generating 30% of energy from renewable sources by 2030.
By the end of 2024, just 10% of energy was coming from renewables, primarily the sun.
According to an updated report for 2025 on the national renewable energy roadmap, first published in 2022, an annual addition of around 28 terawatt-hours and a total installed capacity of 16,000 megawatts will be needed to hit the target.
The average installation rate in recent years has been 1,000 megawatts per year, for a total of 6,700 megawatts as of October 2024. In order to meet the targets, the installation rate has to increase by 40% to 1,400 megawatts per year, the report said.
The updated report for 2025 highlighted that over 88% of the measures presented in the original 2022 roadmap have been implemented or are in the process of being implemented.
Out of 53 measures, 28 have been implemented, 19 are in the process of implementation, five will not be promoted and work has not yet started on one.
According to the updated roadmap, 53% of the target can be reached via dual-use installations (on sites already being used for something else). The report provides figures for what is possible in facilities ranging from landfill sites, highway interchanges, fences, fish ponds and reservoirs, to military zones and fields suitable for agrovoltaic technology (which combines solar energy production with crop cultivation).
It estimated that 30% of the goal can be achieved via ground-based solar fields with storage, 13% through solar fields without storage, two percent from wind, and one percent each from biogas and solar thermal energy.
The challenge will be finding the money to extend the electricity grid in line with government policy at a time when deep cuts are being made to finance the deficit caused by the war in Gaza.
Plans submitted by the Independent System Operator Ltd, known by its Hebrew acronym NOGA, include over 400 projects connected to transmission costing NIS 17 billion ($4.7 billion). This would be needed to double the length of high voltage (400 kV) lines within eight years, increase the length of 161 kV lines by 30%, and boost the number of substations and switching stations by 50%.
The Israel Electric Corporation’s plan for expanding the distribution grid carries a price tag of NIS 20 billion ($5.6 billion)
The Finance Ministry has approved NOGA’s plan but has not yet green-lighted the IEA’s.
The report noted that the National Planning Council approved a regulation in August requiring all non-residential buildings with a roof space of over 250 square meters (2,700 square feet) and all private homes with roofs of over 100 square meters (1,076 square feet) to install solar PV panels. It also reveals that four areas have been approved for the country’s first solar power stations and that planning for them is at an advanced stage.